Indexing or like apparatus



Jan. 31, 1933. A. H. T GLENNY 1,895,993

INDEXING OR LIKE APPARATUS Filed Oct; 20, 1931 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Jan. 31, 1933. A H T GLEQ Y 1,895,993

INDEXING 0R LIKE APPARATUS Filed Oct. 20, 1931 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented Jan. 31, 1933 ARTHUR HILL TREVOR GLENNY, Oi! LONI JON, ENGLAND IND'EXING OR LIKE APPARATUS Application flied October 20, 1981, Serial No. 569,996, and in Great Britain'October 21, 1980.

'This invention comprises improvements in or relating to indexing or like apparatus and is concerned with devices of the k nd comprising abase or support for the mount-.

l-ing in different positions of index or like devices comprlslng rods, pins or pegs on which discs, tabs, labels or similar means are placed for indicating different data. or functions whether temporary or permanent.

different parts and ready adjustment, ma.-

".nipulation, changing or removal of the index devices.

According to this invention,indexing or like apparatus comprises a rod or standard, a support or supports for indexing or like zoidevices radiating from said rod or standard, and attachment means such as split collar devices adapted for permitting the support or supports being individually secured to or removed from the rod or' standard by lateral 251approach or withdrawal. Generally a number of the supports would be employed mounted one above another on a standard and as will be seen the split collars provide a ready means by which the supports can be attached to or removed from the rod or I standard. The collars are completely detachable from the rod or standard so that if any support is removed, the others; may be moved along to fill up the gap. They also allow the, supports to be moved readily from one position to another, higher up or lower down, on. the standard. It is preferred to arrange for the supports to he swingable about the axis of the rod or standard so that any of them may be displaced laterally from others to facilitate access to it or to the index devices thereon. It is of advantage, however, to mount the several supports on a com mon sleeve on the rod or standard so that a set of supports can be moved along, or up and down, as a whole to facilitate inspection. or manipulation of the index devices. Counterpoise mechanism may be provided to make this movement easy and, in order that the set of arms shall not move out of posi- .tion. laterally, the rod or standard and the bore of the sleeve, may be of square section or some other equivalent means provided such as featherand'groove engagement be tween thesleeve and standard. The counterpoise mechanism may be adapted for adjustment to suit the addition of other index supports to the rod or standard or the taking away of any of the supports. The supports suitably take the form of arms of inverted channel-section bar and the index devices may comprise spring clips adapted to he slipped on to the bars by an upward movement, the clips carrying forwardly projecting rods, pins or pegs for the index tabs or the like.

The support arms may be secured tothe collars throughthe medium of devices which permit adjustment of the arms for securing horizontal positioning of the latter. These devices suitably comprise T-shaped members secured to the arms and adjustably secured to the, collars by screws as will be hereinafter described.

In order to enable the invention to be readily understood reference will be made to the accompanying drawings illustrating by way of example one practical construction for carrying the invention into effect, in which drawings m Figure 1 is a perspective view of an apparatus in accordance with these improvements, portions being omitted as indicated by the broken lines.

Figure 2 1s a sectional elevation illustrat- B5 ing the adjustable means for securing the support arms to the standard.

Figure 3 is a plan of Figure .2.

Figure 4 is a front elevation of the counterpoise device shown in Figure 1.

Figure 5 is a section on the line V-V Figure 4.

Figure 6 is a plan of Figure 4. and Figure 7 is a cross-section through a support a and clip u.

Referring to the drawings a number of the arm-like supports a are mounted, one above another, on a vertical rod or standard I) which is fixed between brackets c c on the floor and ceiling. There also extends between the brackets 0 another rod (Z behind and parallel to the rod and this serves as a guide for a counterpoise weight device a. The support arms a are mounted on an elongated sleeve 7 on the front rod Z) and this sleeve is connected with the counterpoise weight 6 by a sprocket chain 9 or the like passing over a pulley h on the upper bracket 0. The sleeve f with the index arms a can thus be moved readily up and down. The rods 1; d are of square section and the top and bottom of the sleeve 7, and the counterpoise device e are correspondingly bored or formed so that turning of the set of arms a laterally and lateral displacement of the counterweight are prevented in the up and down movement. The support arms a suitably comprise inverted channel-section bars which are applied to the sleeve f on the rod or standard 5 by means of split hinged collars z' and T- pieces j. The bars are bolted or riveted at 70 to the horizontally disposed stems of the T- pieces, which are pivotally mounted between wing pieces Z on the collars a by means of screws or bolts on at the junction of the stem and the cross-bar of the T. The cross bars of the T-pieces j are chamfered or cut away at n to permit pivotal movement of said pieces on the collars i. The collar parts are hinged together at 0 on the side remote from the wing pieces Z. The split p 011 the other side is along the inner face of one of the wings, preferably the rear one so that a part g of the .collar projects rearwardly from the front r wing.

This part 9 is at right-angles to the wing and serves as a suitable bearing surface for a pair of screws 1 which are mounted in holes in the cross-bar ofthe T on either side of the stem and enable horizontality of the bar a to be preserved. If the bar happens to be out of the true, the screwing up of one or other of the screws 7" enables horizontality to be regained, by pivoting the T-piece on the collar. The support arms a are spaced apart upon the long sleeve 7 by means of narrow two-part collars s, the halves of which are tightly clamped together around the sleeve 7 by screws or bolts. The split collars Q are of such a diameter that they are held sufliciently loosely on the sleeve 7 to enable the arms a to be swung about the axis of the front rod or standard 5 when desired. These collars are held closed by the pivot screws or bolts m of the T-pieces. The latter, being disposed between the wings Z of the collars,

which wings are as deep as the collars and substantially as long as the crossbar of the T-pieces, it is impossible for the channel bars a to tilt forwardly or backwardly and thus disalign the index devices, when any support arm a is swung about the front rod or standard b.

The index devices comprise rods 25' which are carried by rectangular clips 2!. The latter are formed by bending a rectangular piece of metal to U-form with the sides directed upwardly and the front one longer than the rear one. The clip is made about as wide transversely as the thickness of one of the sides of the inverted channel-bar support arms a and the clips u are engaged with the channel bars by clipping them upwardly on to the front side of the bars. The short tongue of a clip engages inside the bar while the lon tongue is outside. The last-mentioned tongue is preferably made deeper than the bar and bent over rearwardly at v at the top to engage the top side of the bar to prevent displacement and canting of the clip. The shorter tongue is also bent over rearwardly at i) at the top to facilitate application of the clip to the bar. The rods t are preferably secured to the clips at at the lower part of the latter and aluminium liners w may be inserted in the bend of theclips to provide a firm foundation. The liners w also serve as runners when the clips are slid along the channel bars a. The rods t project forwardly from the clips and may be about five to six inches long. Upon the rods t the index tabs. labels or the like as are secured. These may be of disc form, rectangular or otherwise. of various colours, and perforated to take over the rods. It is preferred to make them of thin celluloid and to split them at 3 from the outer edge to the perforation to enable them to be passed on to the rods )5 or removed therefrom by simply springing the split parts over the rods. They may also be of different sizes. particularly in the case of number tabs. These latter are suitably of rectangular strip form with one, two or more perforations to enable them to be placed at different elevations on the rods. They may also be of different lengths. Small clips 2 may also be placed astride the rods t for holding indicating tabs or labels parallel-wise thereon, and the various indicating tabs may he kept apart or segregated in groups by means of split-rings 1 which fit tightly on the rods. Other labels m may be applied to the clips u, if desired. by forming the front jaw thereof with upward- 1y directed spring tongues 2 into which the labels are slipped. There is an advantage in mounting the rods t at the lower part of the clips u, because the labels or tabs a1 hanging on the rods do not obscure any label or ticket which may be inserted above the rod in the spring tongues 2 of the clips.

The rods t may be bent upwardly and rearwardly at 3 at the forward ends to prevent injury to the hand or eyes in using the apparatus.

The index devices may relate to persons, objects or other things and by the aid of the apparatus it is possible to provide a reliable visible index or indicator for manyldifi'erent purposes, such as for checking the duties of stafi, for analysis of sales and salesmens results, or for controlling the expenses and progress of working in factories and work shops. Sets or groups of indicating discs 00 along a rod 25 may be indicative of the operations in the diflerent weeks of a month or the months of a quarter or year. Other particulars, such as analyses or totals, may be placed on cards so in the spring tongues 2 on the rod-supportin clips u. It'will be seen'that all index ta s, discs or cards are readily visible while the index devices as a whole are easily applied to their supporting bars and can be readil adjusted along the bars or removed there rom. There may be any number on the bars according to requirements. Moreover, any bar a can be swung out horizontally so that any particular set of index devices may be isolated and be readily accessible for individual inspection and one of the bars is shown in this position in Figure. 1. It will be seen that the collars 2' permit the insertion or removal of the arms from the standard 6 laterally, the remaining arms being ca-pableof adjustment along the rod to fill up or make a gap. A handle 11 havinga sleeve portion 12 fitted around the sleeve 7 is provided 'for vertically adjusting the arms a. On the insertion of a new arm or removal of an arm, the'weight of the set as a whole will be altered and to compensate for this the counterpoise weight 0 may be constructed for attachment or removal of corresponding weights. The counterpoise, see Figures 4, 5 and 6, suitably comprises a rectangular casing 4 with square perforations 5 top and bottom to engage the rear rod or standard d of the apparatus. This casing may be open at the back and have certain weights 6 permanently secured therein to balance the weight of the sleeve f on the front standard 6. At the top, within the casing, means are provided for receiving lead strips or other weights 8 each of which is equal in weight to one of the support arms a. For instance there may be a ledge or ledges 9 in the casing with upstanding prongs 7 for receiving the lead strips which would be perforated to take over the prongs. The permanent weights 6 may, of course, be such as to balance a certain numberof arms as well as the sleeve f on which they are placed. With this atless number of lead strips would be necessary. Coil springs 10 may be mounted at the top and bottom of the front standard b to serve as abutment springs for the sleeve f and it will be seen that the provision generally is such that the index devices as a whole may be moved upland down with facility for convenience of access and inspection, Obviously, however, the counterpoise mechanism e is not essential, and in small models particularly, the index arms may-be mounted on a short rod or. standard mounted in brackets on a wall or upstanding from a table or other support;

It will be observed that all the parts of. the apparatus are of relatively simple construction and that the channel bars, sleeves,

clips, rods, the indicating discs'or tabs and from and vertically adjustable on said stand- 7 ard, a split collar device secured to each arm and rotatably mounted around said standard and a hinge embodied in said device to permit opening of the device and individual attachment and withdrawal of an arm from the standard.

3. Index or like appartus comprising an upright standard, a series of split collars rotatably and vertically adjustable on said standard, a vertical hinge embodied in each collar to permit opening of the collar and attachment and detachment from the standard by lateral approach or withdrawal, vertical parallel walls on said collar, a horizontal pivot between said walls, a horizontal arm mounted on said pivot, a screw adapted for adjusting the horizontality of said arm, and index-supporting rods adjustably mounted on said arms.

4. Index or like apparatus comprising an upright standard, a sleeve vertically adjustable on said standard, a series of split collars rotatable on said sleeeve, a vertical hinge embodied in each collar to permit attachment 7 and detachment from the sleeve andstandard by lateral approach and withdrawal, a verticalpocket formation on said collar, a horizontal. pivot in said pocket formation, a trough section arm, a T-shaped extension formed with chamfered surfaces on its head portion on the end of said arm and mounted on said pivot, screws operative on said T- shaped extension for adjusting horizontality of said arm, clips mounted on said trough section arms, and index-carrying rods extending from said arms.

5. An indexing or like apparatus compris- 7 ing a pair of upright standards, a sleeve vertically adjustable on one standard, mountings rotatable on said sleeve and ada ted to be opened to permit attachment and etachment from the sleeve by lateral approach and withdrawal, horizontal arms supported b said mountings, index-carrying rods clips or detachably securing said rods to the arms and a counterpoise connected to said sleeve and vertically guided on the other standard.

ARTHUR HILL-TREVOR GLENNY. 

